<p>hey all, Id like some ideas about any schools to add to my list. i'm new, so if there are any other posts that already deal with similar concerns, please feel free to direct me! here are some things Im looking for, in order of importance: </p>
<p>*English/history department must be good, also should offer Italian, Chinese, and Spanish (I want to study at least one but havent made up my mind about which one)
*students are friendly, good sense of community
*On the one hand, Im interested in schools near or around Boston/Philadelphia/DC (but not really New York), and on the other hand, Im also drawn to the safe, small town feel in any part of the country. Either way, I like the idea of having a central campus.
*size: at least over 1500 students
*many students study abroad
*students are politically active and newspaper is popular. theater also, if possible.
*diverse student population with lots of racial/socioeconomic interaction
*fairly balanced female/male ratio
*dont mind a partying scene as long as there are also those who dont drink and other things to do as well
*good advising system
*must have good financial aid</p>
<p>Right now Im open to schools with any level of prestige, Id like to compile a list with safeties, matches and reaches. if youre interested, my stats are 4.0 unweighted, 2300 sat, 740, 780, 800 on satIIs, leadership positions in a number of organizations, taking pretty much hardest courses possible, limited community service (which I regret, but oh well) </p>
<p>For reaches, I'd immediately suggest Yale, Dartmouth, Duke, Princeton, NU - all diverse schools, and the college papers are excellent at all of them. All have central campus, and NU has Chicago some minutes away. All have larger student bodies and good fin aid.</p>
<p>Colgate and Colby are two schools where you should get in that have a lot of the attributes you're talking about where about 2/3 of the students study abroad. I get the impression from past graduates that almost no one studies abroad at Harvard or Princeton.</p>
<p>I agree with thethoughtprocess. Since I'm a rising Princeton student, I can also add some more details about it. I'm not familiar enough with the other schools to do the same.</p>
<p>*English and History are two of the most popular majors at Princeton. All three languages are offered (I'm actually planning to take Chinese and self-study Italian) and courses include pure language courses such as CHI 103 Intensive Elementary Chinese as well as culture based corses such as ITA 209 Political and Cultural landscape: Italy on Film.
*Sounds like Princeton's location is perfect for you. It has a gorgeous campus with all you need at hand and is located in a remarkably safe city. At the same time, it is only an hour away from Philadephia and an hour away from NYC with lots of college sponsored trips to both.
*There are slightly over 1200 students in each class so the undergrad population is about 4800. Add around 2000 graduate students and the total university population is a little over 6800.
*Studying abroad is strongly encouraged and many students do study abroad, especially since Princeton funds it like your other undergraduate years!
*Don't know enough about Princeton's newspaper and political activity to comment. The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs is one of the best though. As far as theater is concerned, there are shows at all times and lots of opportunities to get involved.
*9% of the Class of 2009 is composed of international students. In my suite of nine we represent at least seven different nationalities and collectively speak at least eight different languages. In terms of socioeconomic diversity, Princeton is doing its best to attract low-income students and with its generous financial aid policy all students, even middle-class students who usually get the worst of the deal in the financial aid game, find it more than affordable.
*Princeton is 55% male, 45% female. Balanced enough for me but it's definitely not 50-50 if that's what you are looking for. Occurs because a greater percentage of applicants are male and the yield rate is higher for males as well. I have no idea why.
*There is substance-free housing available where students agree not to be under the influence of any alcohol while in the dorms. The Street defines a large part of Princeton social life for upperclassmen but you can definitely find your niche if this scene is not for you, especially since Princeton is introducing four-year residential housing soon.
*Advising system is often times lauded as amazing. Personal experience with Princeton officials convinces me that this is true. Emails and phone calls are promptly answered, names remembered. All I have contacted were professional, efficient, and very kind.
*Best financial aid in the country. No loans given, student assets tapped at only 5%, and home equity not taken into consideration. Affordable for people of all socioeconomic levels. 100% of need met.</p>
<p>Well, since debryc explained all that for Princeton, it's time for me to stand up for Yale.
Yale's history department is consistently ranked as the top in the country (by US News, National Research Council, you name it). English department is very strong as well. Definitely offers Italian, Chinese and Spanish.
Yale has a great sense of community promoted by its residential college system, which is truly amazing (a smaller community within a larger school)
New Haven may not be exactly the location you describe desiring (though posterX will probably show up and disagree) but Yale definitely has a central campus, and the city isn't as bad as many people make it out to be.
About 1300 students per class = 5200 total.
Most students do not study abroad during the academic year (though it is perfectly possible to do so if one likes) but Yale offers amazing opportunities for study abroad in the summer (most of which also apply during academic year, but nobody wants to miss out on a semester at Yale). Yale will pay for you to spend a summer abroad basically anywhere (assuming you're doing something productive). One of the programs that comes to mind first is the Richard U Light fellowship for language study in East Asia (which definitely would be of interest to you if you want to study Chinese).
Students are definitely politically active: I believe Ned Lamont (Democratic Senate nominee in Connecticut) announced his Senate candidacy to the Yale College Democrats. The many newspapers offer a great variety of styles and opinions and are generally amazing. According to Princeton Review (though those rankings are bs) it has the top college newspaper in the country. Yale also has a top of the line student theater.
Definitely meets your diversity requirement. Among other factors, there is no "ethnic housing" so all races are well-represented in your residential college.
I believe it is either 52/48 or 51/49 male:female
Though drinking is definitely common (as at any college) no one will pressure you to drink. And Yale, very sensibly, treats drinking as a health issue, not a disciplinary issue as at many other colleges.
There is an excellent advising system, with plenty of resources to take advantage of.
Financial aid is excellent (as would be expected with such a huge endowment).</p>
<p>wow, thanks! i'll definitely look into all the schools everyone's suggested. both princeton and yale sound awesome (besides the crazy low acceptance rates..haha). no wonder so many people want to go there. =) what are some major differences between the two, besides location and size?</p>